Bio

Rourke O'Brien is an Assistant Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he is an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP), the Center for Demography and Ecology (CDE), and the Center for Financial Security (CFS).

His research focuses on household and public finance, economic mobility and population health. From 2014-2015 Rourke was a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. From 2012 to 2014 he served as Senior Policy Advisor for Consumer Policy at the US Department of the Treasury in Washington, DC. Rourke also previously served as a Research Fellow and Policy Analyst at the New America Foundation and has consulted for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Center for Financial Services Innovation, and the US Financial Diaries Project, among others. He is coauthor of Taxing the Poor (2011 UC Press) and his writing has appeared in academic journals and popular outlets including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. Rourke received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Princeton University and his A.B. from Harvard University.

Contact Information:Rourke O'BrienLa Follette School of Public AffairsUniversity of Wisconsin Madisonrobrien (at) lafollette.wisc.edu